ICS FOR RURAL FIRES
VOLUNTEERS CORNER
Fires in rural areas often present more of a challenge than those in urban or suburban locations. By “rural” I mean an area where population density is light and buildings are mainly residential, agricultural, or other nonindustrial noncommercial types. Distance to the fire station is much greater than in urban areas, and water supply is a problem: A strong public water supply with hydrants every 500 feet is virtually unheard of in rural areas.
RURAL CHARACTERISTICS
The rural fire service often consists of small volunteer departments that are not funded to the levels of more populated areas. These departments often experience few fires and also may lack various kinds of training and equipment.
Fires in such areas typically occur in buildings that may not be regulated by building or fire prevention codes or may predate existing codes. Often the buildings have been remodeled or expanded with little regard for fire safety. Due to the lack of water, sprinklered properties are almost nonexistent, and buildings with fire detection systems are rare. Neighbors are usually far apart and buildings may be situated off main roads on long driveways or lanes. It is unlikely that a passerby or neighbor will notice a fire until it grows to major proportions.
The rural fire chief has the cards stacked against him in many ways, and he must take every possible advantage. Using a fireground management system is an excellent way to take control of the incident. Good command coupled with standard operating procedures, innovative rural fire equipment, and prefire planning can work to his advantage.
THE ICS CONCERNS
What makes rural incident command different from urban ICS? Water supply is probably the most critical concern in rural firefighting. Obtaining water is not as simple as ordering an engine to stretch large-diameter hose to the hydrant on the next block that delivers 2,500 gpm. T his scenario just doesn’t exist in a rural setting, so the incident commander must develop an alternate water source.
I*hc incident commander is responsible for size-up and evaluation of the incident and the establishment of strategic objectives and priorities—he determines “what we’ve got” and “what we’re going to do about it.” He also must organize the workload and sector and subdivide the complex job into smaller components. All this is true of any incident. But in rural departments the incident commander has the added responsibility of developing and expanding a w’ater supply to suit the needs of the fire. Through preplanning or based on training and experience, he must estimate the water supply needs. The best tool for this is NFFA Standard 1231, Standard on Water Supplies for Suburban and Rural Fire Fighting. It gives a method for estimating total amount of water needed and the delivery rate that should be available on the fireground.
THE WATER SUPPLY OFFICER’S ROLE
The water supply officer selects a target flow’ rate based on the situation and develops a water supply to deliver the needed amount at the delivery rate indicated. For example, at a fire involving a typical single-family ranch house of 1,200 square feet with adjacent garage and workshop buildings as exposures, the minimum supply needed is 3,000 gallons available at 500 gpm. This usually will be supplied by tankers responding on the first alarm.
For medium-size structures the water supply officer’s job becomes much more complex. For example, a 5,000square-foot horse barn of wood-frame construction with exposures will require a water quantity of approximately 50,000 gallons to be delivered at 1,000 gpm as determined by NFPA 1231. To meet this objective, the water supply officer needs to assign tanker companies to haul water and one or more engine companies to fill the tankers. At the fire scene it may be possible to deliver water directly to attack units if conditions allow. In cases where the fire is located at the end of a driveway or lane, an additional engine company must act as a relay unit, moving water delivered by tankers to the attack engine.
The water supply officer must know the inventory of available tank trucks and pumpers and how best to utilize them. He must be able to estimate how many of these units are required to accomplish the objective. A rough rule of thumb is 100 gpm per tanker of delivered water. In this case we need 1,000 gpm, which requires at least 10 tankers. The figure of 100 gpm may need to be adjusted according to the delivery capabilities or tank sizes of the tankers in your inventory’.
The water supply officer will supervise the 10 tankers and three engine companies used in our example. One engine company is staged near the fire scene to receive water delivered by tankers into three portable tanks. This engine will pump into large-diameter hose stretched several hundred feet to the attack unit near the fire scene.
Two engine companies are assigned to fill sites located in areas where tankers will be able to maneuver easily, and a tanker water shuttle is begun. Assuming an average tanker capacity of 1,500 gallons, each unit will make at least three or more round trips to deliver water. Note that these calculations are meant to be rough estimates, and more or less water may be needed depending on conditions at the fire scene.
The incident commander and the water supply officer must maintain a continuous dialogue concerning the need for water. In the early phases of the attack—when master streams may be used —the need for water will be great. As the fire is knocked down and overhaul begins, the flow rate probably will be reduced. The water supplyofficer then will adjust his operation accordingly to suit the foreground needs.
The Incident Command System enables us to subdivide the workload and assign tasks to companies or individual pieces of equipment. In a rural setting, the need for adequate water supply is a primary concern and should be recognized as such. It is a distinct sector —and one that must be properly supervised and staffed to Ineffective.
